Washington Poker School

Poker Learning Tools

Below are a wealth of learning tools to help improve your poker game.

An important ingredient to improving your game is practice. Playing lots of hands and learning to recognize recurring opportunities and traps is invaluable. The ability to play a lot of hands in a relatively short amount of time was one of the advantages of online play that was lost when the federal government shut down PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker in 2010. American players are now at a developmental disadvantage relative to poker players in Europe and elsewhere, who are still able to practice online.

Nonetheless, playing a lot of hands is not enough. If you keep making the same mistakes, it makes little difference how many hands you play – you won’t improve.

If you want to improve, you must also put in time away from the table. Fortunately, there is a wealth of learning tools available to players today in the form of books, training videos, webinars, and interactive apps – many of which have been developed by teaching pros offering excellent content.

Here are some of my favorites, which I recommend without reservation. Undoubtedly there are other equally good ones I have not used. But there is also a lot of junk on the market, so be wary of investing time and money in products that are not recommended by someone you know and trust who has actually used them.

If you are truly a beginner, click here for recommended resources to get started learning to play Texas Holdem.

If you have played a fair amount, but are self-taught and your game lacks a sound fundamental structure (such as bet sizing, pot control, hand ranges that vary based on position and stack size, etc.), click here for recommended resources that would serve as a supplement to our Level I Clinic.

If you are an intermediate player and are looking to move your game up a level (e.g. you are able to beat the $1/$3 NLH game but not the $2/$5 game), click here for recommended resources to do the work away from the table that would serve as a supplement to our Level II Clinic.

If your interest is primarily in tournament strategy, click here for recommended resources.